Improved process for extracting saccharine matters from sugar-cane



M. S. BRINGHR.v

Evaporating Pan.

-No. 70,691. Patented Nov. 12, 1867.

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M. S. BRINGIIER, 0F ASCENSION PARISH, LOUISIANA. Letters .Patent No. 70,691, dated November 12, 1867.

IMPROVED PROCESS FOR E XTRAGTING SAGGHARINE MATTERS FROM SUGAR-GANE.

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TO ALL WHOM I'l MAY G ONGERN: v Y

Be it known that I, M. S. BRINGIER, of the parish ofv Ascension, in the State of Lenisiana, have invented a certain new, useful, and improved Apparatus, and Process to be used in connection therewith, for Extracting the Whole of the Saccharine Matter that is contained in the Sugar-Cane or other vegetables; and I do hereby declare the following to -be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawing, making a part of this specification. I I

Before I proceed to describe my invention, it is proper to premise that, by the most approved method now practised in the manufacture of sugar, only about three per cent. of sugar and three per cent. of molasses are obtained from sugar-cane that is grown in Louisiana or elsewhere in the United States, notwithstanding that there is about fourteen per cent. of pure saccharine matter contained in the same. The reason why so great a loss is sustained, to state it very briefly, arises out of the fact that in expressing the juice that is subsequently evaporated or reduced to make the sugar and molasses that are actually obtained, the means employed, to wit,

pressure-rollers, are insuiicient to break the cellular ltissues. or membranes which constitute the walls of the minute vesicles in which the saccharine 'is contained, and hence there cannot bea complete extraction or expulsion of the same.- The juice is expelled, and carries with it a portion of the saccharine; but, as I have` thefurnaceiof the sugar-mill.

My invention dispenses with the ponderous pressure-rollers, as well as other expensive machinery that enters into the composition of the most approved existing sugar-mills, and by reducing the whole substance of the cane to pulp, through thecombined-operation of a process of maceration, by which the vitality of the cane is destroyed and the agency of cutting, crushing, and pulverizing mechanical appliances, I eect a thorough disintegration of all the vegetable tibre'that is contained in it, and am, hence, enabled to secure every particle of the saccharine, and to convert the same into sugar. But,my invention will be more clearly understood referring to the drawing, in whichl A represents a boiler or receiver to contain the finely-cut or divided cane. B, a steam pipe leading from the steam-generator', which, not constituting any part of my invention, is not shown upon the drawing. H is a perpendicular pipe leading from the bottom of the receiver'A into a horizontal pipe, C. In practice, the pipe H, relatively to the boiler or receiver A, is considerably larger than is shown on the drawing. So also the pipe C, which is rectangulanas delineated upon the drawing, is, in practice, round or circular, and of the same diameter as the pipes'H and D. The steam pipe B should be substantially as shown, that is to say, of spiral form, but, obviously, its convolutions may be 4increased or diminished, it', by doing the one or the other, any advantage is likely to be derived.v The pipe C connects, in its turn, with the pipe I), in which revolves the shaft E, which is provided throughout its entire length with mechanical instrumentalities for reducing the cane to a pulp or jelly-like consistency, by cutting and mashing, and crushing and grinding it until the whole of the vegetable bre is completely broken up into impalpable form. The section of archimidean screw marked G, and the revolving knives F, and xed crees-bars a, are shown for thepurpose merely of illustrating some of the forms of the mechanical means I employ .to eifect the desired disintegration of the vegetable fibre. The screw stated, more than halt` of the latter remains in the bagasse, which is either thrown away, or consumed as fuel in is so placed on the shaft as to assist in the revolution o f the latter, in propelling the softening mass up the pipe D to the point of exit at its top, and at the same time to perform no inconsiderable part in the reduction of that mass to a state ofA pulp. The knives F are so placed in relation to the bars a as gradually, in their revolution, to come closer and closer to the said bars,'until,at their points, there is a positive contact. -The object ofthis Varrangement is to make the knives operate laterally, by pressure, upon such portions of the mass as may come between them and the fixed bars a, whilst their edges and points act as cutters. To increase theveiect of such lateral pressure, I make the faces or sides of the bars @against which theV pressure comes, slightly concave.

Other well-known mechanical contrivances for breaking up and pulverizing are placed upon the shaft E, whilst. those shown upon the drawing may beduplicated at certain; intervals thereupon, until the whole length of the" shaft is entirely filled up with some device or other.,V Another shaft, similarly provided with disintegrating appliances, may be introduced into pipe 0ii` itibe deemed desirable to expedite the process of reduction to country generally.

any extended degree, but, as a general thing, the shaft E in pipe D will fulfill any requirement likely to arise in the actual practice of the invention.

In applying my apparatus to use, the operation is continuous, and as follows, towit.: The cane is first rasped, sliced, cut, or otherwise reduced in any proper manner and by any proper means, into small pieces, and then thrown into receiving-boiler A, where, and in pipe H, as it passes down the latter, it is thoroughly macerated by the steam which comes from the generator through the pipeB, and is disseminated throughout the mass, `its vitality being of course destroyed by the heat of the steam. Completely softened by the time it passes through pipe C, the mass of small pieces of cane enters the pipe D and comes under the action of the disintegratng appliances clustering upon the shaft E, in the very .best condition to be effectively acted upon by those appliances; so that by the time the mass reaches its point of exit at the top of pipe D, every vegetable :fibre is completely disintegrated or destroyed, every vesicle broken up, and every particle of matter reduced to the consistency of `jelly, and "herefore to a condition that will allow of the extrication of all the saccharine that is contained in it. The propulsion of' the mass from the receiving-boiler A to the outlet at the top of pipo D is effected, in the first place, by its gravity alone, and in the second stage of its progress, to wit, through pipe C, by the combined influence of its gravity and the pressure of the steam 'from pipe B, and in its final i ascent up pipe D by its gravity in pipe H, the pressure of the steam from pipe B, and the action of the disintegrating appliances in shaft E, which are all so ordered that. whilst performing the especial function for which they are designed, they will also slowly lift and press the mass upward as the shaft revolves. From the point of exit the mass, thoroughly disintegrated, as we have seen, passes into centrifugals, (not shown on the draw ings because making no part of my invention,) in which the water is driven oil'. From the desiccated residuum the sacharine is disengaged or extracted by any approved or usual method, and then the remaining vegetable bres, &c., may he applied to the making of paper, or as food for animals, or to several other useful purposes that need not herein be stated. y

My invention, it will be perceived, secures all the saccharine that the cane contains, and utilizes its vegetable libres, and hence it is not alone of `great value to the producers and manufacturers of sugar, but to the It is scarcely .necessary to say that my invention can be applied to the extraction of saccharine matter from the beet-root, the sorghum-cane, the Indian-corn stalk, or any other vegetable formation in which it obtains.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to Asecure by Letters Patent, is*- 1. Extracting saccharine matter from sugar-cane, or other vegetables containing it, by maceration and disintegration, as herein described, when the same is eifected by the process and apparatus I have described, or any other which is substantially the same in its mode of operation.

2r The combination of the receiving-boiler A, steam pipe B, pipes H, C, and D, with the shaft E, when the latter is provided with the disintegrating appliances herein described, for the purpose set forth.

M. S. BRINGIER.

Witnesses:

EMILE Ross, Rurus R. Rnonns. 

